It’s a difficult task that some might consider fringe, but the shaggy-haired and mustachioed businessman, who is the sole owner of Bigelow Aerospace and Budget Suites of America, is not easily deterred. Using his riches, he designed and built inflatable astronaut habitats for NASA, such as his soft-sided expandable activity module known as BEAM that is currently attached to the International Space Station.
His Budget Suites company, one of the earliest extended-stay rental networks, which currently houses about 15,000 people across three states, has supported his aeronautical endeavors. He claims that the earnings have allowed him to invest more than $350 million in Bigelow Aerospace, dubbed “my own real black hole,” in recent phone interviews.
Despite their stark political differences, Mr. Reid described Mr. Bigelow as “brilliant” and claimed that they had a great working relationship. Mr. Bigelow is known as a conservative Republican with favorable remarks for President Trump (at least up until lately). Mr. Reid nevertheless declared that he had “high regard” for Mr. Bigelow because “he’s looked into areas other people only think about.”
